SLBA AGM Postponed Indefinitely Amid Police Intervention

SLBA AGM Postponed Indefinitely Amid Police Intervention

The Sierra Leone Bar Association (SLBA) Annual General Meeting (AGM) has been postponed indefinitely by the Directors of the SLBA, following a day of high tension, security standoffs, and the physical barring of the association’s leadership from the venue.

The suspension of proceedings followed a significant escalation in which the incumbent SLBA President, Madam Tuma Jabbie, was denied entry to the venue by armed police officers. 

Witnesses reported that Madam Jabbie arrived with a delegation of legal practitioners but was intercepted by security personnel at the entrance. Mohamed Mansaray of the Operations Support Division (OSD) in Aberdeen reportedly informed the President that he was acting under direct orders from superiors to deny her access.

This confrontation was the climax of a fraught lead-up to the meeting. Earlier in the day, SLBA executive members reported being blocked from the hall, leading Public Relations Officer Alfred Kamanda Esq. to allege that state authorities were interfering in the association’s leadership election to favor specific candidates. 

The event had already been burdened by a controversial order from the National Investment Board requiring the publication of membership names—an order the SLBA challenged—alongside recent court mandates regarding election reforms and payment caveats.

The total halt of proceedings has sparked deep anxiety within the legal fraternity. 

With the police refusing to clarify the nature of the security concerns, observers have raised serious questions regarding the independence of the Bar Association and the broader implications for the rule of law in Sierra Leone.